单词 | background |
释义 | backgroundn. 1. a. The ground or surface lying at the back of or behind the chief objects of contemplation, which occupy the foreground. (Formerly, the part of the stage in a theatre remote from the audience.) ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > position at the back > [noun] > that which lies behind something background1672 backcloth1955 1672 W. Wycherley Love in Wood iii. ii Ranger retires to the background. 1824 in R. B. Sheridan Pizarro i. i. 9 (stage direct.) in Dolby's Brit. Theatre I Elv. [sc. Elvira] walks about pensively in the back ground. 1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 260 The low cottage in the back-ground. b. esp. as represented in any of the Arts of Design. spec. in Photography. Also attributive. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > work of art > [noun] > artistically conceived design > part of > specific part fonda1650 background1752 1752 tr. E. F. Gersaint Catal. Etchings Rembrandt 94 The Back-ground is always faint, the Aqua-fortis having failed. 1847 Ld. Lindsay Sketches Hist. Christian Art I. 114 The backgrounds are either architectural in the Byzantine style, or mountainous. 1858 T. Sutton Dict. Photogr. 29 In taking portraits, it is generally necessary to place a background behind the sitter. This is made by stretching a sheet of canvas..and painting it of an appropriate colour in distemper. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 756 Makers of exposure meters..Background manufacturers. 1961 A. L. M. Sowerby Dict. Photogr. (ed. 19) 47 The following method of preparing a background and painting it will be found reliable. c. figurative. Also attributive. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > circumstance or circumstances > [noun] > environment, setting, or background setting1841 scenics1842 background1854 milieu1854 environment1855 conditions1856 surroundings1861 medium1865 ambient1902 1854 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine Introd. 28 Egypt..is the background of the whole history of the Israelites. 1858 N. Hawthorne Fr. & Ital. Jrnls. (1871) I. 160 A statelier dome..shining on the background of the night of Time. 1868 D. G. Rossetti Let. 7 Oct. (1965) II. 668 Immense variety of background-material for any conceivable outdoor subject. 1928 Coll. Papers H. Bradley Pref. p. vii These papers..form a background without which his labours on the Dictionary cannot be truly judged. 1930 J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement iii. 138 That international English,..a language without roots and background. 1940 Cambr. Bibliogr. Eng. Lit. I. p. xv The Middle English Period..(ii) The Political Background..(iii) The Social Background. 1951 G. Greene Lost Childhood iii. 121 A young historian..gathering..background material. 1956 ‘M. Innes’ Old Hall, New Hall i. v. 52 Do some background reading in published sources. 1961 B. R. Wilson Sects & Society p. ix Some of the background literature of my subject. d. A person's cultural knowledge, education, experience, environment, etc.; social surroundings. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > circumstance or circumstances > [noun] > environment, setting, or background > of a person roots1840 background1913 1913 J. Webster Daddy-Long-Legs 209 I'm glad I don't belong to such a family! I should truly rather have the John Grier Home for a background. 1923 Ladies' Home Jrnl. Oct. 236/3 A charming girl lacking only the ‘background’ that wealth makes possible. 1934 A. L. Haskell Balletomania xi. 219 Had she possessed a background of orthodox technical training [etc.]. 1954 Manch. Guardian Weekly 9 Dec. 2/2 A military background is not a full and complete preparation for a Chief Executive. 1959 Manch. Guardian 1 Aug. 8/3 Pupils are selected by interview... Family background is a major consideration. e. Music, sound-effects, etc., subordinated to or accompanying some other activity, esp. music used as an accompaniment to a film or broadcast programme. Chiefly attributive. Originally U.S. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > [noun] > background music incidental music1864 score1927 background1928 1928 B.B.C. Hand Bk. 1929 68 A..new design of control room has been decided upon, wherein effects, echoes, background music, etc. can be mixed together. 1934 E. B. Marks They All Sang xvii. 215 As the hero was wheeled to the operating room, the strains of ‘You're the Cheese in My Mousetrap’ would trickle into the auditorium as background music. 1937 L. Lewis Radio Dict. in Printers' Ink Monthly Apr. 49/1 Background, any musical or sound effect used in backing up dialog or sound. 1937 Times 25 Sept. 8/2 Le Coq d'Or was no longer a musical work ‘before all else’, but only a musical work heard while something else very attractive to the eye was going on. It was in fact the beginning of that process now known to the B.B.C. as ‘background listening’. 1946 S. Goddard in A. L. Bacharach Brit. Music i. 28 A rachitic progeny of background music to documentary films. 1949 L. Feather Inside Be-bop ii. 17 Vocals..with fine backgrounds and solos by Bird. 1958 Listener 21 Aug. 260/1 As with our own Light Programme the ‘background’ music or entertainment is a comfort and solace to many. f. background heater (see quot. 1961), background heating. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > that which or one who heats > [noun] > a device for heating or warming > devices for heating buildings, rooms, etc. space heater1913 background heater1939 1939 J. L. Martin & S. Speight Flat Bk. ii. 25 There are excellent gas convector or background heaters. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 76/1 A ½ watt per cubic foot for background heating. 1961 Gloss. Terms Gas Industry (B.S.I.) 62 Background heater, a heater normally in continuous use which supplies heat to a room at such a rate as will provide a general temperature slightly below comfort temperature. 2. a. A less prominent position, where an object is not readily noticed; retirement, obscurity. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > privacy > [noun] > less prominent position recess1616 background1781 1781 R. B. Sheridan Critic (1883) iii. i. 177 Keep your madness in the background. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 253 Political friends thought it best..that he should remain in the background. 1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People iv. §2. 174 This settlement of the Parliament may have helped to throw into the background its character as a supreme court of appeal. b. attributive or as adj. Keeping in the background; retiring. colloquial. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > [adjective] > retiring or withdrawn soleinc1450 retiring1566 retireda1616 oyster-like1665 squab1689 shy of oneself1722 indrawn1751 introverted1850 background1896 retreative1898 introvert1916 introversive1923 withdrawn1932 1896 Westm. Gaz. 9 Dec. 2/1 A reticent, background kind of lover. 1904 Daily Chron. 11 Feb. 8/6 ‘Cultivate a background manner,’ is the advice of a lady..to governesses seeking situations. 3. Adventitious signals or effects in the reception or recording of sound. Also attributive. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic phenomena > signal > [noun] > unwanted part of signal > types of stray1901 atmospherics1905 static1905 pickup1925 ambient noise1926 background1927 ground noise1929 hum1929 Johnson noise1929 microphonic1929 thermal noise1930 parasitic1943 flicker noise1947 overhang1971 1927 Radio Assoc. Official Handbk. 70 The purity of amplification..and the silence of the ‘background’, owing to successful elimination of atmospherics and ‘mush’, is remarkable. 1942 R. C. Norris Radio Engin. ii. 35/1 This tends to introduce background noise, which would be entirely avoided if a really good aerial were in use. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio vii. 132 One of the problems which may arise when tape is re-used is a background ‘chatter’ from the previous recording. 4. Physics. The level of radiation arising from cosmic rays and other natural sources. Also attributive, as background count n. the result (in counts or pulses per unit time) of measuring such radiation. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > ionizing radiation > [noun] > cosmic rays > level of radiation from background1930 background count1950 1930 London, Edinb. & Dublin Philos. Mag. 7th Ser. 9 642 The aim..was..to deduce the relative number of electrons falling in the central spot, in one of the rings or in the continuous background. 1933 E. Rutherford in Proc. Royal Soc. A. 141 274 This radiation gives rise to an inconvenient background ‘wobble’ in the output from the counting chamber. 1947 Sci. News 2 140 If a G-M (Geiger-Müller) counter has a background of 30 pulses per minute. 1950 F. Gaynor Encycl. Atomic Energy 26 Background count. 1959 C. Hodder-Williams Chain Reaction viii. 98 No trace of radioactivity was detected over and above the normal background count. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online June 2022). backgroundv. 1. To form a background to. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > position at the back > form the back or background of [verb (transitive)] background1768 back1826 1768 S. Bentley River Dove 8 Far distant as Vision can go, High Weever back-grounds the gay scene. 1843 E. B. Barrett Lett. R. H. Horne (1877) I. 70 Where there is no reserve of character to background it [shyness]. 1891 C. T. C. James Romantic Rigmarole 75 The ‘antique spires’ of the College Chapel, backgrounded with crimson sunset. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 17 Nov. 4/2 Planted on to the material like a raised embroidery, and backgrounded with manipulations of tulle or chiffon. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 4 May 4/2 Hair..well dressed can background these [features] with such effect that the face..may become almost beauty. 2. To place in the background, to make inconspicuous. Chiefly figurative opposed to foreground v. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > privacy > make private [verb (transitive)] close1430 retire1605 imprivacya1670 recess1795 background1891 1891 S. Mostyn Curatica xii. 164 I am not sure if there was any bread and butter; if there was, it was..ignominiously back-grounded, so that I did not see it. 1976 Word 27 125 The thesis of this article is that the perceptual salience of certain aspects of events naturally foregrounds certain actions and entities and backgrounds others in a semantically predictable manner, dictating the structure of early sentences. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Sept. 1045/4 Another tradition of anthropology follows Durkheim in backgrounding the intellectual propositions and foregrounding the moral persuasions of religion. 3. To inform (someone) of the circumstances pertaining to an event, situation, or the like, esp. its causes, history, etc.; to ‘fill in’ (to fill in 5 at fill v. Phrasal verbs). ΘΚΠ society > communication > information > action of informing > give (information) [verb (transitive)] > inform (a person) to teach a person a thingc888 meanOE wiseOE sayOE wittera1225 tellc1225 do to witc1275 let witc1275 let seec1330 inform1384 form1399 lerea1400 to wit (a person) to saya1400 learn1425 advertise1431 givec1449 insense?c1450 instruct1489 ascertain1490 let1490 alighta1500 advert1511 signify1523 reform1535 advise1562 partake1565 resolve1568 to do to ware1594 to let into one's knowledge1596 intellect1599 possess1600 acquainta1616 alighten1615 recommenda1616 intelligence1637 apprise1694 appraise1706 introduce1741 avail1785 prime1791 document1807 to put up1811 to put a person au fait of1828 post1847 to keep (someone) straight1862 monish1866 to put next to1896 to put (one) wise (to)1896 voice1898 in the picture1900 to give (someone) a line on1903 to wise up1905 drum1908 hip1932 to fill (someone) in on1945 clue1948 background1961 to mark a person's card1961 to loop in1994 1961 Time 10 Feb. 13/3 Salinger ‘backgrounded’ reporters on the news. 1971 Rhodesia Herald 23 June He has served at The Hague and is completely backgrounded on the territory and the World Court battle. 1977 Washington Post 13 Mar. a1 A high-ranking State Department official well backgrounded in African affairs. 1985 New Yorker 11 Mar. 121/2 Israel's Embassy in Washington ‘backgrounded’ American reporters. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online September 2019). < n.1672v.1768 |
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